Cycle B - Year I:

17 May 2015: Solemnity of the Lord's Ascension
(Liturgical color: White)

Mark 16:15-20


The mission continues...


Forty days after our Lord's Resurrection, the Church celebrates this Sunday the Solemnity of the Lord's Ascension.

What does our Catechism tell us about this great event in the life of Jesus?

The Lord's Ascension into heaven to the right hand of the Father is among the articles of Faith we profess in the Apostles' Creed. We believe by this mystery that Jesus Christ, in His resurrected body and soul, went up to heaven and took His seat at the right hand of God the Father. Thus, the Ascension makes way for the Holy Spirit to come down to earth and inspires the Apostles to preach the Gospel to every land.

The Church further teaches that when Christ ascended into heaven He did so on His own power and He ascended as true God and true Man. This belief is rooted in the eyewitnesses testimony of the Apostles themselves. The first reading in the Acts of the Apostles describes this momentous event: "When he (Jesus) had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight." (Acts 1:9)

For the Apostles, the Lord's Ascension becomes their great hope. It was this encounter with the Resurrected One that compelled the Apostles to preach the Gospel without fear, even to the point of shedding their blood as martyrs.

In truth, the Lord's departure and ascension were both an end and the beginning for the first disciples. It was the end of Jesus' physical presence with them but at the same time it is also the beginning of the Lord's presence in a new way.

The Gospel narrative from St. Marks says that the Lord gives the Apostles his final command to continue His mission on earth: "Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature." (Mk 16:15) Thus, Ascension Sunday is the great commissioning which the risen Christ gives to the first disciples and now also to the whole Church. That means, all of us who believe must continue the mission to be heralds of Good News and ambassadors for our Lord Jesus Christ.

In other words, the mysterious nature of the Ascension event must draw us to an increase in the virtue of hope, a filial trust in God that helps us transcend all of the sufferings of this life and assures us that we can one day join the Lord in heaven. So that whenever we are beleaguered by the rigorous demands of authentic Christian living, the Ascension of Jesus reminds us that heaven awaits those who are faithful to the end. Because all of our sacrifices in this life are our merits in the life of the world to come.

The Ascension must also compel us to continue with the Church missionary work to seek the souls who are still far from knowing Jesus. It should move us, for example, to share our hope in Christ with the person who is near despair, or a co-worker or neighbor who needs to know that life is worth living. The hope of the Ascension reminds us to witness to others that what we do here on earth will reap either a great reward of eternal punishment.

Also this Sunday the Church celebrates the 49th World Communications Day with the theme: Communicating the Family: A Privileged Place of Encounter with the Gift of Love. Let us make use of our family to nourish the hope of Christian life, and share that hope with others through the Church.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!